Public Announcement by Osman Kavala's Lawyers

This statement has become necessary, considering the proliferation of unfounded and unlawful news reports that appear in certain written and visual media and that may serve the purpose of manipulating the public perception with regards to our client, Osman Kavala.

We would, first and foremost, like to point out that the contents of the said news reports had been excerpted from the dialogues and expressions exchanged between Osman Kavala and police officers during Osman Kavala’s interrogation, not from a court hearing. It is within the public knowledge that the investigation is subject to confidentiality order. Hence, these news reports frankly constitute a ‘crime’, and we will immediately take necessary legal actions on behalf of Osman Kavala. 

The claim in the said news reports, declaring the presence of intense telephone traffic and phone conversations between Osman Kavala and the individual mentioned in these news reports, does not reflect the truth. As a matter of fact, the allegations brought against Osman Kavala are not of actual phone conversations, but rather HTS records of their signals being detected in the vicinity of the same cell tower.

In these circumstances, we expect these reporters, who apparently do not hesitate to posit themselves as investigating and judicial authorities, to also share the contents of these alleged conversations with public.

In like manner, the claim in the said new reports postulating that the statement expressed by our client Osman Kavala during the police interrogation, “I need to check my appointment book”, declared as his only response to all questions he encountered during the process, does not reflect the truth, either. This response, which was given by our client only once to one single allegation about an event in the distant past, is in fact highly spontaneous and humane.

The identities and the positions of those in possession of authority, who carry the same genetic traits as those who are responsible for the darkness in Turkey's recent history and act in complete disregard of the judiciary through media with the motto of "first disgrace then prosecute" are of public knowledge. We, therefore, bring to the public attention that we shall take all the necessary legal actions against these institutions and agencies disseminating such biased and fabricated news on behalf of Osman Kavala; and that we shall never, regardless of the circumstances, compromise on the universal principles of law. 

Osman Kavala's Lawyers, 13 November 2017